Emotional Manipulation and Task Distraction as Strategy: The Effects of Insulting Trash Talk on Motivation and Performance in a Competitive Setting

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study modeled the effects of verbally aggressive insults, or “trash talk,” on an opponent’s performance in a competitive setting. A hypothesized model predicted that the perception of verbal insults would increase cognitive distraction, manipulate emotions, and affect motivation to perform, such that competitive performance declined. Anger and shame were posited as the primary manifestations of emotional affect. The experiment randomly assigned participants to verbal insult and control conditions and was operationalized through a videogame racing competition. Results indicated that verbal insults negatively affected competitive performance on both psychological and emotional levels, although not exactly as the model predicted.

KEYWORDS:

• Trash talk
• verbal insults
• emotional affect
• task distraction
• motivation
• performance

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Materials in the online repository are available at: https://osf.io/4vnq3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen C. P. McDermott

Karen C. P. McDermott (PhD, University of Connecticut) conducts research that spans an array of topics in persuasion and interpersonal communication, with special attention to sport communication, crisis and image repair, and motivation and emotion.

Kenneth A. Lachlan

Kenneth A. Lachlan (PhD, Michigan State University) is a Professor and Department Head in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut. His current research interests include the functions and effects of social media during crises and disasters, and the use of social robotics in delivering risk messages.